Astral Nest
An astral nest is a ravine-like structure that is found throughout Zehlo, and potentially other planets. It is similar in appearance to some sort of canyon, except the bottom is what appears to be void, stars, and other celestial phenomena. Astral nests, though exceedingly rare, are also the breeding and nesting grounds of utodikes and disutodikes. Characteristics Appearance Astral nests appear as deep, dark ravines in the ground, stretching from a mere few meters to possibly hundreds of kilometers across. Although their walls are featureless, what passes for the bottom is filled with a cacophony of bright stars, nascent nebulae, hurried meteor showers, and even the occasional blinding supernova. If one were to fall in--which is ill-advised, as there is no way out aside from hitching a ride on a utodike--the lowest level would instead appear to be an inky sea with the occasional burning flash of white-hot light beneath. The rims are usually dry and debris-ridden. Behavior Even for a world steeped in averting reality's expectations, astral nests are incredibly bizarre. Although there are no actual astronomical objects within them (despite what it looks like), there's a high amount of cosmic dust and gas and, oddly enough, background microwave radiation. In essence, they act like mini nebulae; except utodike and disutodike eggs form instead of stars. Additionally, every so often large clouds of debris will be kicked up and float out of the chasm to a high altitude, where they then rain down around the rim of their progenitorial astral nest. Within a few years, depending on the frequency of this event, the composition of the ground around an astral nest can be radically different from ground just a few feet further away. Astral nests distort and bypass all forms of dimensional gates, barriers, and other such phenomena. Habitat Astral nests are the sole breeding and nesting grounds--and thus, known habitat--of utodikes and disutodikes. Although research has confirmed that the cosmic detritus is necessary for the formation of their eggs, not much else is known about how the creatures use their habitat. However, it appears that being too far away from an astral nest for long can lead to disorders and early death in both species. The environment also appears to be unsuitable for parasites. "Star-hopping" A unique form of travel, borne of the astral nest's properties in regards to dimensional walls, relies on traveling through an astral nest to bypass any kind of related shield or transdimensionally-occupied space. This is known as "star-hopping" and is extremely hard to pull off without a. getting trapped in the nest for eternity, or b. sustaining fatal injuries or dying in the process. However, when successful, it is capable of bypassing even the dimensional strength of Morninghold itself (via the "Barrier Rift" astral nest). Notable Nests * Barrier Rift - A relatively short and shallow astral nest that moves into Morninghold from the surrounding area. Star-hopping through it is the only way of bypassing dimensional barriers to entry into it (although this only really affects the Invasion or others warded against by the Lamassu). * Rain of Skyfires - An incredibly long astral nest that splits the Socere. Winds gust almost non-stop within and above the gorge. Category:Places